I was on vacation from July 1 through July 20. Part of that was visiting my husband’s parents, and part of it was being with my daughter as she participated as a camp counselor with Camp Twitch and Shout for a week.

While I was gone,on July 1, actually, the IRS pulled a fast one. Hopefully, a great move for non profit organizations like ours that are seeking tax exempt status. The good part (I think?) is that it was just in time.

The form for applying for tax exemption, IRS Form 1023, is 29 pages of detailed information on a non profit, from projected finances to activities and more. It also requires about a ream of paper full of attachments including documents like the Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, and umpteen other documents of proof of existence. The IRS is behind in processing these applications from non profits – some say nine months or more. (The process is kind of like birthing a baby!)

I found out on July 28 that on July 1, the IRS issued Form 1023-EZ to take the place of Form 1023 – IF a non profit expects to have less than $50,000 in earnings. And guess what – the form is only 3 (that’s t-h-r-e-e) pages! And no attachments!

Our goal was to file our 1023 form in July. I have the full 29 page 1023 form ready to go. But evidently the 1023-EZ gets turned around faster – I read that “early reports” said that determination letters were issued in about 3 weeks.Bet that gets longer as more people discover this shorter form with its fewer requirements.

So, tomorrow night, 8pm, I am meeting with my CPA. We plan to file the 1023-EZ form online at the pay.gov website. Three little pages. After the hours and hours I spent getting the standard 1023 form and attachments ready. Well, I must admit, I learned alot in the process.

And now, as of August 1 if all goes well, I will be counting the days until we become a tax exempt organization – and I hope it will be before nine months!

Diane Diamantis